tom-tom

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2008)

The drum kit

1 Crash cymbal | 2 Floor tom | 3 Toms 4 Bass drum | 5 Snare drum | 6 Hi-hat

Other components

Ride cymbal | China cymbal | Splash cymbal | Sizzle cymbal Swish cymbal | Cowbell | Wood block | Tambourine Rototom | Octoban | Hardware

A tom-tom (not to be confused with a tamtam) is a cylindrical drum with no snare.

The tom-tom originates from Native American or Asian cultures. The tom-tom drum is also a traditional means of communication. The tom-tom drum was added to the drum kit in the early part of the 20th century.

Design history

The first drum kit tom-toms had no rims; the heads were tacked to the shell.

As major drum manufacturers began to offer tunable tom-toms with hoops and tuning lugs, a 12" drum 8" deep became standard, mounted on the left side of the bass drum. Later a 16" drum 16" deep mounted on three legs (a floor tom) was added. Finally, a second drum was mounted on the right of the bass drum, a 13" diameter drum 9" deep. Together with a 14" snare drum and a bass drum of varying size, these three made up the standard kit of five drums for most of the second half of the 20th century.

Later, the mounted tom-toms, known as hanging toms or rack toms, were deepened by one inch each, these sizes being called power toms. Extra-deep hanging toms, known as cannon depth, never achieved popularity. All these were double-headed.

8x12 rack tom mounted to a stand

Modern tom toms

Tom-toms mounted on a bass drum

Today two "power" depth tom-toms of 12x10 (12" diameter by 10" depth) and 13x11 is the most common hanging tom configuration, and would be considered standard by most drummers. Also popular is the "fusion" configuration of 10x8 and either 12x8 or 12x9, and the again popular "classic" configuration of 12x8 and 13x9, which is still used by some jazz and retro drummers. However a wide variety of configurations are commonly available and in use, at all levels from advanced student kits upwards. A third hanging tom is often used instead of a floor tom. Most toms range in size between 6" and 20", though floor toms can go as large as 24".

Single-headed tom-toms

Single-headed tom-toms (also known as concert toms) have also been used in drum kits, though their use has fallen off in popularity since the 1970s. Concert toms have a single head and a shell slightly shallower than the corresponding double-headed tom. Phil Collins still uses 4 singled headed rack mount toms and 2 floor toms (Gretsch) in his setup. He claims he tunes his toms to "bark" like a seal.

Rototoms

Rototoms have no shell at all, just a single head and a steel frame. Unlike most other drums, they have a variable definite pitch and some composers write for them as a tuned instrument, demanding specific notes. They can be tuned quickly by rotating the head. Since the head rotates on a thread, this raises or lowers the head relative to the rim of the drum and so increases or decreases the tension in the head.

Gong Bass Drum

A gong bass drum (also known as "gong drum"), is a large, single-headed tom often sized at 20" or 22", with the drumhead being 2 inches larger than the shell. The sound produced is similar to a bass drum, though it is more open and has longer sustain. They can be mounted with standard floor tom legs, though many drummers mount them at an angle next to the floor tom(s). Notable users include Neil Peart, Stewart Copeland, Bill Bruford, Simon Phillips, Jason Bittner, and Mike Portnoy.

Construction and manufacture

Typically a tom consists of a shell, chromed or plated metal hardware and head.

Shell depth standards vary according to the era of manufacture and the drum style. Diameters usually range from 6 to 20 inches, with heads to fit.

Tom-Toms can be fitted with an adjustable mounting for a floor stand, or attachment to a bass drum or marching rig. They can be single or double-headed.

Shell

A crucial factor in achieving superior tone quality and ensuring durability, especially with wood, is the creation of perfectly round shells and much research and development effort has been put into this manufacturing technology.

Shells are often constructed of 6–8 wood plies (often using different woods e.g. mahogany and falkata — birch or maple are commonly used for single-wood plies), solid wood (turned) or man-made materials (e.g. fiberglass, pressed steel, acrylic glass, resin-composite). Wood or composite shells can be finished by laminating in plastic in a large variety of colors and effects (e.g sparkle or polychromatic); natural wood may be stained or left natural and painted with clear lacquer. Steel is usually chromed, fiberglass self-colored and acrylic glass tinted or clear.

Audio samples

Component	Content	Audio (Ogg Vorbis)
Toms	8-inch rack tom	59 KB (help·info)
	12-inch rack tom	41 KB (help·info)
	Floor tom	39 KB (help·info)
See the Drums page at Wikipedia Commons for more

Hardware

One or two cast or pressed metal rims attach by threaded tension rods or lugs to nut boxes bolted onto the shell holds the heads onto the bearing edges of the shell. The tension rod assembly needs to be precision machined, cast and fitted to enable predictable and secure tuning without inhibiting resonance or introducing extra vibration. All components will be placed under great tension and experience added stresses from playing.

A shell-mounted clamp attached to ball-head floor stand.

Mounting systems vary greatly, from a simple cast block on the shell which accepts and clamps to a rod attached to a clamp or holder to much more sophisticated arrangements where there is no attachment to the shell, instead a frame clamps to the tuning lugs.

Another sort of rod clamp system allows attachment of the drum to the tom holder without the need of a hole in the drum shell for the rod to pass through. The clamp is attached to the shell at the nodal point with two bolts so as to allow the shell to vibrate freely without degrading the shell's dynamic range and sustain. The nodal point is the location on a shell with the least amount of vibration allowing for the mount to have minimal effect on the resonance of the shell.

Some drummers use a snare stand to hold a tom, thus making it easier to position the tom.

Percussion portal